Oil $20 gas $3.50

[eastbay]

Have to laugh at how they are maintaining the high gas prices in California, What is everyone else seeing?

[tadd]

Below $1.99 for regular and can find diesel for $2.21 some places. This is upper Maryland.

[KFC911]

1.89 here....dropped about .20 since oil was over $40/bbl.

[mattdavis11]

$1.49. for regular at Sams in Austin.

[legion]

$1.41 at the lowest station in town. (Central Illinois.)

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by eastbay

Have to laugh at how they are maintaining the high gas prices in California, What is everyone else seeing?

Who is "they"?

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Who is "they"?

Earl and Ralph....do you know them?

[mattdavis11]

Near O'hare it was $1.70ish when I filled the rental on the 12th of March. Comparable.

[vash]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Who is "they"?

i assume the owner/managers at the station the OP saw $3.50?

[sammyg2]

The average retail price for reformulated regular in california is $2.88, in the rest of PADD5 west coast its $2.55
https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/

The wholesale spot-price for regular in Los Angeles is 35 cents. That's what the oil refineries are selling it for, and losing their asses in the process. Big time. They bought crude at $40/bbl and are giving the finished products away at a fraction of the cost to refine it.

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/prices.php

That does not include a bunch for fed, state and local taxes.

What is really going on is gas stations have tanks full of gas they paid a lot of money for and they don't like the idea of selling to for half of what they paid for it.
So they are keeping the price high knowing they will have to sit on it for a long time. They are hoping the price will climb a little so they won't lose so much on it. Survival of the small businessman.

It's a waiting game as the product has a limited shelf-life.
Eventually they'll have to dump it all at a very low price if demand doesn't pick back up, and they are trying to postpone that inevitability.

Make sure you buy your gas at a station that is busy and moving lots of gas, not just Doritos and beer.

Note that most gas stations are independently owned, maybe by one of your neighbors.

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Who is "they"?

They who mandate the special formulation while collecting the taxes...

[stevej37]

It went up a dime here. It's now $1.19

[GH85Carrera]

It was $0.99 at a local Costco recently. Normal stating are $1.19 for gasohol and $1.39 for real gasoline.

[rockfan4]

Western WI on the MN border - $1.36 for 87 regular at most stations, a couple at $1.29.
The car still has a 1/2 tank, I filled it on Mar 10 @ $2.19 and felt pretty good about that.
The truck is full, filled it on 3/16 @ $1.79, haven't driven it since. Probably should put it on the battery charger.
I just don't leave the house much anymore.
How long before today's E10 gets too nasty to use? I've considered filling a couple gas cans but no sense doing that if it's going to go bad before I can use it.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

They who mandate the special formulation while collecting the taxes...

Was it the EPA, CARB, or petrol industry which backed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTBE_controversy ?

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

...
They bought crude at $40/bbl and are giving the finished products away at a fraction of the cost to refine it.

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/prices.php

That does not include a bunch for fed, state and local taxes.

What is really going on is gas stations have tanks full of gas they paid a lot of money for and they don't like the idea of selling to for half of what they paid for it.
So they are keeping the price high knowing they will have to sit on it for a long time. They are hoping the price will climb a little so they won't lose so much on it. Survival of the small businessman.

It's a waiting game as the product has a limited shelf-life.
Eventually they'll have to dump it all at a very low price .....

When the price of oil skyrockets, they raise prices 3-4 times each day....citing "replacement" costs for what was purchased much lower in their tanks.

Can't have it both ways....

Yes they can

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by KC911

When the price of oil skyrockets, they raise prices 3-4 times each day....citing "replacement" costs for what was purchased much lower in their tanks.

Can't have it both ways....

Yes they can

In a perfect world, there would be enough competition to create balance and stability and prevent the station owners from pulling that crap.
But gubmint regulation has screwed all that up.

Back when we were pups, the price of gas only changed a few tenths from one station or season to the next.
Ah the good old days.
GOML

[gordner]

KC911, exactly what I was just about to post. I don't have a lot of sympathy, they are happy to sell their cheaply purchased fuel for a premium when a barrel goes up a tenth, they can eat it when it drops.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by john70t

Was it the EPA, CARB, or petrol industry which backed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTBE_controversy ?

The gumbint came up with a stupid law and said the refining industry must comply if they wanted to stay in biddness. The industry said how we gonna do that?
They looked for solutions said how about MTBE? The gubmint said yeah, that's a good idea.
Later they pretended they had nothing to do with it.
I was there.

Your link left out the important parts.

[Sooner or later]

when you get down to these levels the price of crude is a small part of the price per gallon.

Tax per gallon hasn't dropped.
Refining cost per gallon hasn't dropped (might go up with fixed costs and lower output)
Distribution cost per gallon hasn't dropped
Retail profit per gallon hasn't dropped.